


An Empire for You

by luumenss



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: Betrayal, Character Death, Character Study, Episode: c05e11 A Crown of Candy: At the Mountains of Sweetness, Growing Up, M/M, Mostly Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:47:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24922552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luumenss/pseuds/luumenss
Summary: Over the course of his life, Amethar learned many things. How to escape his lessons. How to make a friend. How to lie to very important people.Most importantly, he learned how to love and how to lose.
Relationships: Amethar Rocks & Citrina Rocks & Lazuli Rocks & Rococoa Rocks & Sapphria Rocks, Calroy Cruller & Amethar Rocks, Calroy Cruller/Amethar Rocks, Caramelinda Rocks/Lazuli Rocks
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29





	An Empire for You

**Author's Note:**

> This started on an analysis of Amethar and Calroy's relationship through the years and ended up as an Amethar character study because Lou Wilson is PHENOMENAL and made me fall in love with this Unfallen king. 
> 
> Important note, when I talk about Calroy, I mean @/kindlesparkk's fantastic human Calroy, NOT the slice of cake that haunts my dreams.
> 
> Song title is from Empire by Of Monsters and Men.

Prince Amethar of House Rocks is raised to believe that he’ll never be king. And he’s fine with that. He hates his lessons, hates learning about politics and diplomacy and being cordial. All of his older sisters are much better at these things than him, especially Sapphria. Amethar is fifth in line, and he doesn’t have to worry about these things, so he’d much rather spend his days being taught sword fighting by Rococoa or figuring out the best ways to sneak out of every room in Castle Candy. 

But as much as Amethar thrives as a child, as much as he enjoys being free of the worries that keep Lazuli locked in her room for hours or give Rococoa migraines so bad she can’t think or keep Citrina far away from the Castle for weeks at a time, he’s lonely. He wants a friend, someone his age, someone to balance him out. Maybe he’ll find someone who’ll go on adventures with him or teach him how to move stealthier so he can avoid his mother’s watchful eye or… Something like that. Someday.

Calroy and Amethar first meet at a ball, hosted by House Rocks. They are young, but Calroy is already courting Lady Donetta Cruller. Their first meeting is brief, a handshake exchanged between the young prince and the duke of Muffinfield. And then it’s gone.

They meet again several more times, and they are young and they get along well and it’s seemingly normal. It’s good, Amethar’s family tells him. Good to establish political connections, even at an early age.

They meet again when Calroy and Donetta are married, and Amethar and Sappria are sent as a representative of House Rocks. His other sisters are too busy with their own lives and jobs, and Amethar “needs to practice diplomacy” and Sapphria is a good teacher. And Amethar wants to support Calroy, even though they aren’t that close and Amethar doesn’t understand his own disappointment when he heard of the marriage.

Amethar sits and watches them marry, sees the smile on Calroy’s face, and he knows then that they did not love each other. To the other guests maybe it seems like they do, but Amethar knows. He’s seen what true love was- it’s what Caramelinda and Lazuli have, the look of wanting to hold on and never let go. And that’s not how Calroy looks at his newly-wedded wife..

But Amethar writes off as nothing, and at the reception Amethar nods and smiles and congratulates the couple and lets Sapphria drag him around to other nobles, and they don't see each other for a while after that.

It’s Lazuli and Caramelinda’s wedding, and Amethar can’t help but be envious of the love and devotion in their eyes. Cara looks like she’s never been happier, which is easy to say, since she never looks particularly overjoyed to see Amethar, and Laz, for once, isn’t focused on magic or her studies or whatever other mysterious crap she does, and she’s just in love. What is it like, to love like that? To want to hold someone close and never let go? Amethar smiles and dances with his sister and doesn’t share the thoughts running through his head. He doesn’t think about the fact the Calroy didn’t come, doesn’t think about the fact that he doubts he’ll ever find a love like that. He just dances and smiles, and loves his sisters and his parents and that he’s lucky to get to have this life.

Then the war comes, and Candia is steadily failing to ignore the violence raging just beyond their borders, and everyone is busy, too busy, for balls and parties and weddings.

And then the Dairy Islands asked for help, and no matter what his father says, Amethar knows he has to fight, and he follows Rococoa to House Jawbreaker without a second thought.

When forces of House Cruller arrive to help, and Calroy is alongside them and time moves so quickly and before Amethar knows it, he is crouched in a trench and Calroy is beside him, face splattered with blood and dirt. Maybe Amethar finally has that friend he’s always desired.

The war continues, and as time goes on, Amethar starts spending less and less time at Castle Candy and more time in the field, growing closer with the soldiers than he does with the generals. That doesn’t mean he sees his sisters less- Rococoa is alongside him more often than not, and it's not unusual to see Cara and Lazuli visiting a Candian camp to subtly lend their skills as magic users, or to see Sapphria come by to question prisoners or negotiate with the opposing forces. He does wish he’d see Citrina more, but she is busy being a saint and ignoring the “heretic” magic that her sister “abuses”. 

The war is painful and long, but when his sisters can’t be there, Calroy is. When news of his mother’s death reaches Amethar, Calroy holds Amethar as he sobs. They have other friends, sure, but Amethar doubts he could cry in Manta Ray Jack’s arms and feel as comforted as he does with Calroy. The Dairy Islander is too small, anyway.

(Manta Ray does help- when Amethar briefly falls in “love” with a girl from the Dairy Islands he helps, providing himself as a witness to a brief union. But the war doesn’t stop for anything, and Amethar quickly forgets about the momentary distraction that was Catherine Ghee.)

After all, he cares for Calroy more than he ever will for Catherine Ghee. But she’d make a good wife, and if his sisters tease him about it, that doesn’t matter, because it works and he doesn’t need to think too hard about it. 

The war goes on, and even if he makes friends with a Fructeran soldier who always knows when to shoot and Lazuli’s ward who is always ready to defend those around him, they don't compare to Calroy. (A part of him wonders why he hasn’t told Cal about Catherine, but he buries that part away so he doesn’t have to think about it.)

There is a moment, when they are practicing sword fighting during a quiet day free of battle. Amethar may be stronger and brasher, but Calroy was always quicker with a blade. And so Amethar finds himself pinned against a tree, a sword pressed to his throat and Calroy’s face grinning inches away from his own. 

And when Amethar leans in to close the space, everything and nothing makes sense and for once Amethar isn’t a prince and Calroy doesn’t have a wife and neither does Amethar and they aren’t fighting a terrible war and they’re just two people and whatever happens happens and it’ll be okay because they’re together.

But the war doesn’t end, and they have to go on, and if Rococoa notices that they’re standing closer than normal when they’re planning an attack she doesn’t say anything.

They’re fighting, but they’re losing and the soldiers keep coming and Amethar thinks that maybe he won’t make it out alive this time. He’s had so many close calls, but this time it seems like he won’t be so lucky, and he turns to say something to Cal, to say what he’s always wanted to in their fleeting stolen moments, but he’s cut off by the sky lighting up with shining green arrows, and a moment later he knows that Lazuli is gone. 

But Amethar is alive. He’s alive and he’s lost so much but he’s still breathing even though his sister and mother are not and it hurts more than he can bear.

The rest of the war passes slowly, like Amethar has finally woken up. It’s not a game anymore, it’s all  
so much more real. He spends less time on the battlefield, more time with his sisters. More time with Cal where he tries to hold on to what he has. 

But then Sapphria is gone and Amethar changes again. He becomes fiercer, angrier, colder, and Calroy begins to slip away. Their moments together are few and far between and even though it hurts maybe it’s for the best. It has to be.

And when Amethar learns that Citrina has been run down in the streets he decides that to love is to lose. He hasn’t spoken to his father for so long, and the king is already so heartbroken he’s a shell of a man. It’s just Amethar and Rococoa, the only ones left. A twelve year age difference could get in the way of some sibling bonding for others, but for them it doesn’t matter. They just need to hold on. 

Manta Ray Jack and Gustavo Uvano bring him some joy but it’s not the same. Amethar isn’t a kid anymore, and the laughter they shared as comrades is gone They’re soldiers, hurt by the pain of the war, broken and made whole again and again. 

It gets easier when Calroy smiles and rubs his back after a rough night. Not a lot, but it’s still a change, and for that Amethar is grateful. And when a siege on Pangranos is planned, one that seems to have a chance at ending the war, Calroy kisses his cheek and wishes him luck and Amethar feels a glimmer of hope.

He was right to feel hope, after all. They won, and Amethar is alive, and so is Cal and he’s happy. But he goes to find Rococoa to hug her, to celebrate, to try and start healing what’s left of their family, and finds her lifeless body and so many arrows. The war is over, and Amethar has lost so much, and he’s first in line for a throne he never wanted or thought he’d have. To love is to lose, after all. 

Anyone who said the world would go back to normal after the war was wrong. Every single person in Calorum had lost, and so many were suffering. Whether it was the erasure of all religions except the Bulbian Church, the redrawing of borders, or the sheer number of people killed, no one got out unscathed. 

Amethar returns to a nearly empty Castle Candy, Calroy by his side. The ballroom largest ballroom they had, once filled with people laughing and dancing and enjoying life if now filled with 4 enormous blocks of colorful stone, slowly being carved into statues of the fallen Rocks sisters.

Amethar is first in line for a broken throne, and he doesn’t even have time to mourn before he’s swept up into meetings in place of his father, pushed towards his sister’s heartbroken fiancée, and Candia prepares for a new king.

Caramelinda never liked him. She was always off somewhere with Lazuli, and she didn’t have time to worry about her fiancée’s little brother. Still, Amethar knew just how smart and calculating she was, and maybe a marriage makes sense. He doesn’t think of the fact that he’s technically still married but that probably doesn’t count anyways. So marrying Caramelinda it is. Even if it’s hard to pretend, even if he can see in her eyes just how much she hates him, even though she resents him for being the one to survive instead of Lazuli, they have a duty.

And when Caramelinda tearfully tells him she’s pregnant Amethar decides that maybe he’ll have to try a little harder than he thought. 

It does get easier- when King Jadain succumbs to his grief Amethar just feels numb and doesn’t know how to cry anymore, Caramelinda rubs his shoulder and comforts him, playing the part of a caring wife but also just caring. And Amethar misses when Cal did that, but that doesn’t matter.

The years pass and everything falls into place. Amethar develops a normal. Let Caramelinda do the work it takes to run a kingdom. Play with the twins, chase them around until all three of them are laughing so hard their stomachs hurt. Antagonize the Chancellor. Make Theo roll his eyes in exasperation. Eventually, take in his younger cousin, and when the kid arrives back at the castle covered in mud and muck, laugh and remember acting the same way at that age. Recount everything to Calroy at the end of the day as they both try to forget those very similar meetings back during the war.

It’s two decades after the war is over that everything changes. It all happens so fast- Amethar is nearly killed over and over and each time Cal is there to help him, to comfort him, to help him, to tell him that they’ll fight these bastards who are doing this. 

When they reunite at Castle Candy, Calroy in his best pair of pants, Amethar holds on to him so tightly, because he lost someone else and he still doesn’t know how to mourn, and Calroy was always so good at comforting him.

When Calroy mentions finding Theo but they end up on the ramparts alone Amethar doesn’t question it. He hasn’t had a real moment along with him in so long, and Amethae longs to take Cal in his arms and pretend like they’re young and foolish soldiers again. 

Amethar has lost so much, and he still lives. There’s a reason they call him the Unfallen. He continues to lose, and continues to love anyway. If to love is to lose, then he’d rather be hurt by his love than not love at all. 

And Amethar loves Calroy. In ways he doesn’t understand, and in ways he does. He loves him so deeply and truly, and when he feels the knife in his back he feels his heart break again. To love is to lose, and Amethar has lost.

After he falls and before he feels Jet die, Amethar sees Cal’s face. There is no joy in his expression. No satisfaction or triumph. The man he knew is gone, replaced emptiness,

Maybe that’s the best thing he could hope to see.

To love is to lose. And Amethar is terribly familiar with both.

Amethar tells Theo it isn’t his fault. He holds Caramelinda as she sobs. Tries to comfort his broken daughter. He knows all too well what it’s like to lose a sister, but that doesn’t mean he knows what to say. He hates that Ruby knows what to love is to lose means.

He’s captured, and he hates that he doesn’t care. Hates that he gains a new daughter and he can barely look at her without being reminded of his mistakes. He sees Jet’s brashness and courage, sees Catherine’s eyes and just how badly he screwed up there, sees her intelligence and knowledge and savvy and her power and that she, too, carries the blood of his sisters. He hates himself, and he hates Calroy and Ciabatta and Keradin and Belizabeth and everyone and no one and himself.

But he refuses to give up. He won’t die knowing that the people who killed his family are still alive, still in power. 

He’s loved so much and he’s lost even more. But Amethar won’t lose again. He will survive.

After all, they call him the Unfallen for a reason.

So Unfallen he will be.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I managed to write 2.5k with 0 dialogue, and I'm proud of that.


End file.
